CMEP Action Alert: Help Christians Under Threat
Christians in the Holy Land are under imminent threat of losing their land, their livelihood, and their way of life because of the ongoing occupation that results from the unresolved conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
Under an emergency law, an Israeli court recently upheld the decision to seize land in the small Cremisan Valley near Bethlehem. This decision allows for the extension of the separation barrier across the valley, connecting two settlements in the eastern suburbs of Jerusalem built after 1967 on what at that time was Palestinian land in the West Bank.
CMEP is pushing the Obama Administration and the U.S. Congress to urge the Israelis to suspend plans to build this disruptive and unnecessary barrier in the Cremisan Valley.
The land seizure and construction of the barrier will separate a Salesian Catholic monastery from a neighboring Salesian Catholic convent, confiscate most of the convent’s property, and cut off 58 Palestinian families from their agricultural lands – including vineyards, olive groves, and pastures. The barrier also will separate families and surround an elementary school on three sides, forcing young children to pass through a checkpoint to go to class.
Across the West Bank, restrictions on Palestinian access to agricultural lands have led to the slow abandonment and eventual confiscation of these lands by Israeli authorities.
Help Churches for Middle East Peace resist construction of this barrier!
Right now CMEP is developing tools to help you take action and support the sisters, brothers, and families of the Cremisan Valley and other Palestinian communities. We are also working on new educational and spiritual resources to help you reach more people in your own community with the stories of challenge and our Christian faith’s call to hope and perseverance.
Together, we can push back against those that would create obstacles to progress towards peace, justice, and an end to the occupation.
Please help CMEP be a unified voice of Christians from over 20 communions and continue this essential work at this pivotal time.